E-Connections Newsletter - September 2010
Dear Y2Y Friend,
Welcome to the September issue of the Connections newsletter, a quarterly publication by the Y2Y Initiative. This newsletter is intended to provide you with an update of some of our most interesting and important work. We hope you enjoy reading about these featured highlights:
- Lowering Wildlife-Vehicle Collisions: The Highway 3 transportation corridor is a two-lane, east-west highway supporting 6,000 to 9,000 vehicles per day traveling over the Continental Divide at Crowsnest Pass and paralleling the Canada U.S. border. The current rate of wildlife-vehicle collisions involving large mammals along Highway 3 has raised concerns among agencies and the public regarding motorist safety. Although a high number of these collisions are found to involve deer, collisions also occur with elk, moose, bighorn sheep, grizzly bear, wolf, lynx, bobcat and cougar. You can learn more about the challenges facing wildlife and connectivity in this area and the work of the Miistakis Institute for the Rockies, Western Transportation Institute and the Y2Y Initiative in the recently released report: Highway 3: Transportation Mitigation for Wildlife and Connectivity in the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem.
- Grizzly Bears Seen as Threatened: On June 3, 2010 the Alberta government designated grizzly bears as a threatened species in an effort to better protect the bears and sustain the provincial population. The designation is based on cutting-edge population research and habitat data, as well as a recommendation from the Endangered Species Conservation Committee (ESCC), a group of stakeholders including ranchers, industry, academics, wildlife managers and conservation groups. Learn more about the Alberta Grizzly Bear Campaign here.
- Conservation at the Zoo: The Y2Y Initiative has partnered with the Chicago Zoological Society in their newest exhibit Great Bear Wilderness at the Brookfield Zoo. The new home of the zoo's grizzly bears, polar bears, wolves, bald eagles, and bison features the Y2Y Initiative and other conservation organizations. It is hoped that the exhibit and its inhabitants will inspire visitors to take conservation action to ensure that these creatures and their natural habitats will flourish for future generations.
The Y2Y Initiative has been actively engaged in building, supporting and enhancing conservation efforts for more than a decade. This work is only possible thanks to the generous financial support of our donors. If you are not yet part of this growing effort, we encourage you to join us by becoming a Y2Y member.
Thank you for your interest and support in the work of Y2Y Initiative and our partners. Please contact me if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Rob Buffler
Executive Director
Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative
